Survivalism
by Mini-Bot
Summary: An alternate universe type story about a girl named Crystal, just trying to survive.
1. Prologue

**Title: **Survivalism

**Author: **Mini-Bot

**Series: **Movieverse/AU

**Rating: **Mature

**Disclaimer: **OCs belong to me. The Transformers belong to their respective owners.

* * *

_I met sixteen of the most important cybertronians in my life about three hundred stellar cycles ago. They took me in after the wretched Autobots cast me out for being something they referred to as a "half breed". I wasn't even sure what I was, but the Decepticons didn't seem to care that I was different._

_With them, I was never judged or mistreated for the way I was created. Perhaps, it was because the 'Cons were all outcasts in some way, themselves. _

_I can't remember exactly how I first got to Decepticon territory. All I can remember is waking up to a face that, at first, frightened me. _

_My vision was blurred, but I could tell who he was. I'd heard many awful stories about him. Stories that Autobot parental units would tell their younglings, so they would not venture out too far from their territories. _

_It was the face of one of the most feared Decepticons on the planet. Air Commander, Starscream, Megatron's traitorous second in command. Skilled fighter, murderer, egomaniac, liar..._

_Yet, the voice that spoke to me sounded nothing like the way he was portrayed in the stories, but rather a mech who genuinely cared about my, a random Autobot femme's, well being._

"_Are you alright?" he asked running his claw over my forehead gingerly. _

_I couldn't speak, but I managed a nod to let him know I was indeed functioning. _

"_Dreadwing is going to do a few more repairs on you before we allow your normal repair functions to take over. He's never encountered a creature such as yourself, so fixing you up was quite difficult for him. You're extraordinary." The commander said turning away from me toward a computer that probably displayed my vitals. _

_I tried to focus my optics, so I could better see the 'Con, but to no avail. My optics had not yet returned to their functional state._

_My struggle to see him didn't last long, as I fell back into a state of recharge. _

_In fact, I was in and out of recharge mode for quite some time, after that. _

_The medic looking after me told me, in one of my "awake" periods, that it was normal after the damage I had sustained._

_The short cycles I was awake at a time, I pondered the many possibilities of my "sustained damage", and how the damage came about, but my processor drew a blank. What happened to me, I could not remember._

"_Your *zzst* processor took critical *zzsst* damage. It will *zzst* be a long time before you remember *zzzzt* a lot of your past," the medic had said to me, as he fiddled around with some lethal looking instruments strewn out on a table beside me._

_I was afraid of him. I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. At the same time, I was curious. Curious as to why these Decepticons were helping me, and not inflicting even more pain upon me._

_ Two orns had passed, since I first awoke in the Decepticon medical bay. There was no telling how much time had actually passed before that first awakening. _

_When I awoke this time, I was back to a one hundred percent functional state. I was able to see, hear, and speak clearly again. _

_I was alone in the medical bay. _

_I made myself believe for a moment that I was still in Autobot territory, and maybe I had dreamed the whole ordeal. However, the Decepticon symbol on the medic pack next to me told me differently. _

_I sat up in the berth, and peered around the room._

_I wasn't sure what to do. Should I stay there, and hope that I wouldn't be interrogated to death for information that I did not carry? Should I run? Hide? Off-line myself to be free of this entire nightmare that I called a life? I was so lost and confused._

_Just as I was about to get to my feet, the door opened, and in came a purple mech with a single yellow optic in the middle of his head followed by the Decepticon Lord, Megatron. _

_From that moment, I believed I would be sent to the scrap heap, for sure._

_Before they turned their attention to me, I quickly laid back down, and pretended to be deep in recharge. This would give me a chance to listen in to what they had to say about me before deciding what I should do. _

"_She wears the Autobot symbol, my liege. However, someone clearly wanted her out of the picture by the way she looked when Blackout first brought her here. Dreadwing and I worked for mega cycles trying to figure out her hardware and how to repair it." the slightly smaller mech mentioned to the Decepticon Leader._

"_Did you find out what she is exactly?" Megatron asked. _

"_Not entirely, my lord. We've concluded that she is at least one half Cybertronian, with the second half still undetermined. The tests show something of an organic nature. A direct origin is unknown, and untraceable in the data files, but I will continue my research." _

"_Hmmm... A half breed? Is she the only one of her kind?"_

"_Difficult to say. I've never even heard of an organic crossed with a Cybertronian before, which leads me to believe that she is indeed a very rare breed. At least, on this planet. What surprises me is the fact that she bares the symbol of an Autobot. I was always lead to believe they despised organics of any type." _

"_Perhaps she is an experimental creation that escaped her masters. Regardless, I am intrigued. I wish to speak with her the moment she awakes." Megatron stated starting for the door._

_I let a small noise escape from my throat to let them know I was awake, or, at least, about to wake up. _

_My curiosity at Megatron's fascination got the best of me. I wanted to know what he wanted to talk about._

_I waited a moment then opened my optics, hoping I was not met by the business end of a heavy weapon. Instead, I was met by two brightly glowing red optics and the face of the Decepticon leader. _

_I was once told Megatron likes to look his victims in the optics before he makes them suffer slow, painful deaths. _

_At the thought, I accidentally let out a tiny squeak, and shut my optics tightly. _

"_What's your name, femme?" he questioned ignoring my reaction to his close presence._

_I let one optic slide open. He was standing beside the berth, peering down at me. Motionless. He was waiting for my response to a simple inquiry. _

"_C-C-Crystal," I stuttered. I was surprised I even remembered my name, but it just sort of came out._

"_Crystal, huh? Tell me, do you happen to remember anything about your life?" _

_I shook my head nervously. _

_Aside from my name, I honestly could not remember a single detail about my life. Who were my parental units? My friends? My teachers? I had no memory of any of those things, whatsoever. _

"_I c-can't r-r-remember." _

"_In time, I'm sure your memories will return to you. I do hope I can be around you, so we may..."_

_Before he could finish, the door whooshed opened, and the Air Commander followed by two smaller mechs entered the room. _

"_Lord Megatron, some Autobot warriors are here demanding we release the femme," Starscream said followed by a low growl. _

"_It's been orns since her disappearance, and they are just now coming to claim her? Shocking. Usually, they are banging at our doors much, much sooner, when a disappearance takes place. Even, when we aren't responsible."_

"_Well, she must be important to someone, and that someone believes we have her, which we do. He demands that we release her, at once, otherwise we will have to go before the Cybertronian council faced with various criminal charges." Starscream literally spat out the last of his sentence. _

"_Release her? They act like we are holding her hostage. Since when has medically aiding someone become a crime?" he replied._

_Megatron turned his attention back to me._

"_Do you wish to return to the Autobots?" he asked locking optics with me._

_Even if I wasn't sure what had happened to me, the very mention of going back to the Autobots scared me._

"_No!" I shouted. _

_The mechs in the room all had their optics glued to me. They appeared to be surprised at my reaction. I was surprised at my reaction, but something inside me told me not to go back. _

"_Well, there you have it, Starscream. Tell them we do have the femme, but she chooses to live among us. They have no authority over her life, now. That ended when she entered this territory." _

"_And, if they have a snark counter attack comment involving the Cybertronian police and forcibly removing the femme from our territory?"_

"_Take care of them," Megatron growled. _

_Starscream did not say another word, but instead turned and exited with the smaller mechs that had followed him in. _

"_Shockwave, fix her up with some fresh armor and anything else she may need." _

"_Yes, My Lord." _

_The purple mech extended his hand to me. _

_I took it with little hesitation. My fear for the Decepticons was very slowly starting to wear off. _

"_Come, darling. We will get you fixed up."_

_ "I believe it is time for a proper welcome, Crystal," Megatron voiced standing at the end of a grand table._

_I was in a large room dining with Megatron, and his finest warriors. _

_He had me sit by him, even though the seat was reserved for the second in command. Starscream didn't seem to mind giving up his seat for me. _

"_I want to introduce you to my finest soldiers, and welcome you to Kaon, the capital city of Decepticon territory." he said slipping an arm around my shoulders._

_Megatron went down the line, pointing to each mech as he told me their designations and rank. "Starscream: Second in Command and Leader of the Seekers, Blackout: Third in Command and Heavy Weapon Specialist, Soundwave: Head of Communications, Shockwave: Head of the Science Division, Barricade: Head of Security, Dreadwing: Chief Medical Officer, Brawl: Weapons Specialist and my own personal pet weapon, Bonecrusher: Battle Strategist, Thundercracker: Seeker, Skywarp: Seeker, Blitzwing: Seeker, Blackarachnia: Spy and our leading femmey, Frenzy: Mini-Con, Rumble: Mini-Con, and Ravage: The entertainment."_

_I studied each of them carefully. _

_These were Megatron's most finest soldiers. Soldiers that would follow him without question. Kill for him without question. Die for him without question. Soldiers that Megatron, himself, trusted with every ounce of his being. They were his everything, as they soon became my everything._

_ Through the stellar cycles that followed, they cared for me; trained me; taught me how to defend myself; and, most importantly, loved me like no other being had ever loved me before. But, the wretched Autobots took them away from me. All of them._

_The disagreements between Autobots and Decepticons had turned into a full blown planetary war. _

_Sentinel Prime, the leader of the Autobots believed we were corrupt Cybertronians, that Primus himself would slaughter had he been physically present. He believed it was his duty to rid Cybertron of such corruptions. _

_Naturally, the Cybertronian High Council took his side, though they were meant to remain neutral. _

_They granted him and his army small rations of blue energon, which super powers any mech or femme that ingests it. We were not prepared for that kind of power. Even the strongest of us fell. _

_Soon, there were few of us left. Those that were left were encouraged to find the launch site of an underground ship called the Nemesis. If they were able to make it to the ship, before it's final departure from Cybertron, there was hope for them. Any that were left behind, were doomed. _

_ I was not one of the lucky ones to find the Nemesis, but I was one of the lucky ones to make it off the planet before total Decepticon destruction._

_I stumbled upon a small transport vessel, in my last search of Kaon, the fallen Decepticon capital._

_With the cover of darkness, I escaped that hell, and began my new lonely space traveling life. _

_ For stellar cycles, I had searched space for survivors, or traces of survivors._

_That is how I found myself here, in this unknown part of the universe far, far away from Cybertronian life. _

_My ship was badly damaged, and on the verge of total shut down. My stored energon rations were reaching a critical low. I, myself, was on the brink of total insanity. I had nothing left. Nothing to keep going for, with the exception of the low possibility that maybe a single 'Con still lived._

_I drifted in and out of consciousness. _

_My happy place was my dreams. Dreams of being back in the arms of a 'Con, any 'Con._

_The ship alerting me of an approaching planet and the fact it was low on fuel woke me from the dream state I was in. _

_Up ahead was a mostly blue planet with hints of green and white. It looked promising enough. Perhaps, a planet I could locate some resources on. I decided to take the chance, as my ship would fail long before I came across another planet. _

_This is where my story truly begins._


	2. Alien Encounters?

**Title: **Survivalism

**Chapter One: **Alien Encounters?

**Author: **Mini-Bot

**Series: **Movieverse/AU

**Rating/Warnings: **M (strong language)

**Disclaimer: **The human characters and Crystal is this story are all mine. The Transformers belong to their respective owners. I hope you enjoy "Survivalism"!

* * *

"Joey!" Alex screamed as her boyfriend spun her around in the air. "Come on I don't feel well, babe."

"Fine, you're no fun when you "aren't feeling well"," he answered setting her down on the ground.

"Awww, cute couple alert! Picture time!" the crazy man with multi colored hair commented while grabbing his camera out of it's case.

"Dude, get the fuck out of here. Okay? Thanks. We're not going through this whole paparazzi thing with you," Joey joked reaching for the camera.

"But, you guys are so cute and should be photographed every second of your life. Never know when you'll miss something amazing. It's why I always have a camera ready," The man known as Corey said batting Joey's approaching hand away.

Joey rolled his eyes, and turned his attention back to Alex.

"Come on, baby, we're going to be late."

Joey took Alex's hand in his own and started walking along the side walk again.

They, suspecting that Alex might be pregnant, were on their way to a doctor's appointment to confirm or deny the suspicion.

It was a cool, beautiful sunny day. Birds chirping, children playing, and the sound of the ice cream man making his rounds through the near by neighborhoods. It seemed just like any other perfectly normal day. However, as this trio of friends was about to find out, it was anything, but a perfectly normal day.

"Joey, what's that?" Alex asked looking up at the sky toward a gleaming object flying toward the ground.

"I have no fucking clue! Whatever it is, it looks kick ass. Let's go check it out," Joey said starting to run in the direction of the falling object.

"Joey, we're going to be late to the doctor's appointment! Besides, why should we go toward something that we know nothing about? It could be dangerous," Alex called jogging after him.

"Come on, Alex, it'll be an adventure."

"Fine, but you have to reschedule the doctor's appointment. And! If we die, I'm so blaming you."

Corey decided he would join them since he was the "camera guy" of Joey's group of friends. He would need to be present to catch any action that might have taken place.

"Fuck yeah, adventure time!" he yelled running past Alex and catching up with Joey.

"Slow down, you guys. You know I can't run that fast," Alex pouted falling behind the two men.

A short distance later, she found herself almost too exhausted to go on. She wasn't normally like this, but her fatigue was getting the best of her.

She stopped to catch her breath.

She'd lost sight of the guys, which meant a falling alien object was more important than waiting for her.

_Men._ She thought to herself.

Suddenly, Alex was knocked off her feet, as the falling object impacted near by.

[***]

I regained consciousness after my ship's collision with the surface of this unfamiliar planet.

As I had presumed, the damage to my ship was catastrophic. Though, the actual final shut down sequence happened much sooner than I had anticipated. The quiet landing that I had planned instead turned into a noisy attention grabber.

I was sure I had attracted some of the local beings, that I observed on my way down, which meant I probably didn't have a lot of time before I would be discovered.

I had to act quickly.

I couldn't abandon my ship. A ship would lead to suspicion and investigation. I couldn't allow any being on this planet to find traces of my origin until I was sure they were free of Autobot influence. If I found that this planet was Autobot free, then I could think about befriending one or two for help.

Though, rather primitive, they were an interesting race.

I scanned the data bank that they called the "world wide web" for more information about this strange, new world. And, for a story. I needed a background, if I was to blend in with this race. Skimming through various information sites, I came across something known as a "meteor hunter". That would serve as a perfect explanation for being at the impact site. All that was left to do was getting rid of the evidence and planting the evidence.

[***]

Alex got to her to feet, and dusted herself off. She had no clue as to how long she had been unconscious.

"Joey! Corey!" she called out, hoping that the two men were near by and uninjured.

She could hear the faint murmur of voices coming from ahead of her.

"Guys!" she called again, this time a little louder. She hoped they would send some sort of response to her. She hated being left in the dark about serious situations.

"Alex? Over here, baby!" Joey shouted.

"Joey!" she exclaimed rushing toward the voice in the distance.

She found them, and a rather large crater.

"You've got to see this, Alex," Joey said motioning for her to join them at the edge of the crater.

"I'm scared."

"Don't be. We're right here."

Alex cautiously walked over to Joey's side and peered down into the cavity.

"That's impossible," she whispered, fixed on the sight below them.

"I know. It looked like an alien space craft when it was falling from the sky," Corey said snapping picture after picture.

"Who would have thought that it was just a meteorite?" Joey said slipping an arm around Alex's shoulder, and pulling her closer to him. "I really thought we'd discovered something huge. Like, we'd be the first to come in contact with a real live alien, or something. Too bad."

"I'm glad it's not an alien," Alex began. "You have any idea what aliens could do to us? Haven't you seen those mov-"

Joey cut her off with his laughing. "Don't start in with that movie bullshit, baby. Aliens probably aren't gonna be like that," he said.

"I'm just surprised that we're the only ones here. I thought the police, FBI, and curious civilians would be swarming the place by now," Corey said searching for a place to climb down into the crater.

"I imagine they'll be here sooner than we think," a girl's voice commented from down inside the crater.

"Wha? Hello? Who said that? Are you an alien?" Corey asked excitedly.

The girl chuckled.

"Me? Heavens no. I'm just a small town girl turned meteor hunter."

She climbed her way out of the crater and stood up beside Corey.

Though her clothes were rather grungy looking, she was beautiful. Long, blonde hair that reached the lower part of her back, beautiful vivid blue eyes, and a gorgeous smile that could light up a room of frowns.

"Name's Annabelle," she said extending her dirt covered hand out to Corey.

Corey studied the hand for a moment.

"Oh! Excuse me," she said taking a cloth and wiping the dirt from her hands. "There. Better?"

Corey flashed the girl a goofy smile and shook the girl's hand.

"I'm Alex, and this is my boyfriend, Joey. That guy that you're shaking hands with is Corey," Alex said clearing up the silence setting in from the two men. They were in awe at the sight of the beautiful girl, but Alex knew the flood of questions was coming.

"How did you get here so fast?"

_It begins._ Alex thought to herself, as she heard Joey ask the first question.

"Well, I-"

"Where are you from?" Corey butt in.

"How old are you?" Joey asked.

"Are you single?"

Annabelle looked back and forth between the two men asking various annoying questions. Every fiber of her being wanted to kick them in the heads, but she refrained from the violent act, and stayed as calm as she could.

Alex inched over beside her, and tapped her on the arm.

"Pay no mind to them, sweetie. They're just not used to seeing such a pretty girl doing such dirty job."

Alex, realizing what she had just said, covered her face.

"I mean, the fact that you are out here and.. Oh, never mind. I've already made a big ass out of myself. Can we offer you a place to get cleaned up and call someone? I'm sure curious citizens will be here any moment, and you'll be the first one they pester to death with questions, you being a meteor hunter, and all."

"That would be very nice, thank you."

Just as Annabelle finished, the four of them heard the sounds of approaching voices.

"If we're gonna go, we'd better go now," Joey insisted starting in the opposite direction of the approaching voices.

Annabelle watched the three of them start to walk away. She eyed each of them carefully. Studying them. Mapping their every move. Before they could get too far away from her, she followed.

[***]

_**A place to get cleaned up and call somebody? **_Who was I going to call? My only family was taken from me, and this primitive device couldn't possibly reach anyone on Cybertron, anyhow.

I was in their home, now, holding the device that they called a "telephone". They bought the lie, and now wanted to help this disguise known as "Annabelle". Things were tipping in my favor, somewhat. I was out of the open, now, and could study these people from a close proximity. That is, if I could get a good sob story going with the female, so I could remain here with them. Females were more prone to believing what I would have to say.

I walked into the room that Alex was stationed in. I could already see the similarities of the human males to the Autobot males that I had encountered in my life time. However, Megatron had once told me never to judge an entire faction by the action of one. Always give a new being a chance before deciding my feelings.

By order of her boyfriend, she was making a _sand witch_. I knew organics ate other organics, but I never knew they actually would eat sand dwelling witches. Having met one on a previous planet, it was quite shocking to me.

"Alex?"

Alex turned her attention toward me.

"Hey, Annabelle. Did you manage to get ahold of someone?" she asked.

"No. My brother is in trouble with the law again, so I may not be able to get back home for quite some time," I lied. Lying was a useful technique that I picked up from Starscream. He told me never to lie to the ones that I loved, but always deceive my enemies, or potential enemies. I wasn't sure what Alex was, but I had to lie to keep my secret.

"Don't you have other relatives that you could stay with?"

"Since I can remember, it's always been just me and my brother. He sent me off to hunt my meteors, so he could take care of some business."

"Oh, okay. Well, Corey can drive you to a hotel later after dinner. You can stay there until your brother can come pick you up," she said turning her attention back to the _sand witch_.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could maybe stay here with you guys for a couple of days? I'm running low on...," I scanned every piece of information on that "world wide web", and the name of the currency these people used escaped me just when I needed it most. This was probably due to the fact I had not had my daily ration of energon. Everything was starting to get a little fuzzy.

I saw a look of uncertainty cross Alex's face. She didn't want me there. She didn't trust me. Likewise, I didn't trust her, either. I didn't trust any member of this race. I never would until I was certain that they were free of Autobot contact.

"I'll go talk to the guys about you staying here for a couple of days," she murmured.

Alex picked up the plate, and headed out of the room, and up the flight of stairs.

Leaning back against a wall, I sighed, and waited for her to come back with the final verdict. Things would get mighty complicated for me, if I had to find another human bunch to latch on to and study. If I couldn't stay here, I would be in constant danger. My energy signature was masked, yes, but Autobots had the technology to pick up even a masked signature, had it been out in the open. These structures and human contact provided a little more cover.

I closed my optics, and imagined what it would have been like to have a structure of my own. A mech... sparklings... pets... a family to call all mine. I small smile appeared on my face, as my processor began to wander back to a night that I would never forget.

_"Crystal, how do you feel about spark bonding?" Blackout asked leaning his helm against mine lightly._

_We were laying out under the stars in the Metallic Meadows just outside of Kaon in Decepticon territory. _

"_Ah, two Cybertronians making a pact to be together for all eternity. I think it's romantic," I replied staring into his crimson red optics._

"_Would you ever consider bonding with someone?"_

_His optics filled up with hope and longing for my answer to be the very thing he wanted to hear._

"_Well, of course, silly. Most femmes dream of something like happening, you know. That big, strong handsome mech to come swoop them off their feet." I dug my hand under him and tickled his patch of exposed sensitive circuitry located on his back. He shivered with delight at the sensation, and the encouraging answer that I had given him._

"_Bond with me?"_

_The question provoked a painful, yet delightful feeling in my spark. Painful, because I knew that until the Autobots were no longer a threat to us, we could never do that. Delighted, because, more than anything, I wanted to be with him. Forever._

"_Blackout..." I sat up and turned away from him. I didn't want my words to sting him as deeply as they were stinging me. "I would like that. I would like that more than anything, but you and I both know we can't. Not now. Not with our people on the verge of war."_

_I could barely hold in my tears after finishing that sentence, but Blackout's strong arms were wrapped around me before the tears began to fall._

"_Don't waste those tears on this, my love. We will be together." Blackout grabbed my face and lifted it up, so that I was looking up at him. "We will be together if I have to fight Primus and Unicron both to the death," he whispered._

"Hello? Annabelle?" Alex said waving a hand in front of my face. She must have returned when I was zoned out thinking about the past.

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?"

"I talked to the guys. They said you could stay here for as long as you needed," she said half-heartedly. She was obviously not very pleased at the fact that they wanted me to stay.

"Thank you, very much," I said bowing my head slightly.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

"We're headed toward an unknown planet, sir. If the Autobots are tracking us, they won't be able to track us down there. Not with all that organic activity. Shall we proceed on this heading, or steer away?" the pilot asked fidgeting around with the controls of the mighty ship.

"Uhhh, I don't think we've got much of a choice, master. I'm getting all sorts of warnings from the ship's primary systems. If we don't get the necessary fuel and repairs, we might as well kiss our afts good-bye," a smaller mech stated from his place at a monitoring station.

"We will proceed. I didn't get you all this far for nothing. Scan, camouflage, and find a secluded place on the surface of the planet for a temporary base of operations," the bipedal mech replied from his enormous chair built for a leader.

"Yes, master," the pilot replied beginning the necessary preparations for the orders issued to him.

"I just hope we don't encounter any Autobot activity on our short vacation from space..."


End file.
